myMS companion

New MS in the 21^st Century resource: check out the myMS companion

myMS companion has been developed by healthcare professionals (HCPs) and people with MS (PwMS) from around the globe, as part of the Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, sponsored initiative MS in the 21^st Century. The group conducted an international survey to understand the challenges and real-world unmet needs around conversations about disease progression.

Findings about communications between people with MS and their healthcare profesisonals

The findings showed that around a third of people living with MS says that their healthcare professional had never discussed disease progression with them. On the other hand, only 2.3% of neurologists and 4.2% of nurses stated they had not discussed this subject with their patients.

Almost half of all healthcare professionals perceived that people living with MS do not want to talk about disease progression as it was too upsetting. Yet, only 15.7% of people with MS agreed with this, and around a fifth were simply waiting for their healthcare professionals raise the subject.

Based on these findings, myMS companion was developed with the aim to empower people living with MS to feel more confident to raise the topic of progression, and to provide healthcare professional with a framework for these sensitive conversations.

What is myMS companion?

myMS companion is a short online questionnaire designed to help PwMS to start thinking about their personal goals for the future, and the MS symptoms which they feel could be the greatest barriers to achieving them.

Although it can be hard to think about, planning for the future could keep you doing the things you love for longer, and being able to have an open, positive conversation with your doctor and healthcare team could be the first step towards developing your own personal strategies to maintain good quality of life longer-term.

myMS companion is currently available in English, with French, Spanish, German and Italian versions coming soon.

Try it here: http://www.mymscompanion.com or visit the MS21 website at http://www.msinthe21stcentury.com for more information about their work.